Default Diary

• Do you find that don’t get around to completing your high priorities?
• Do you ever get to the end of the day and wonder why you haven’t achieved all that you wanted to?

Here’s how I overcome these challenges to achieve completion of the jobs that need doing.

First of all…

Out of the hundreds of jobs, tasks and activities that are needed to be done, designate which ones are a priority.

Prioritise

It may seem obvious but prioritise your workload. This will include some tasks which are just urgent, some which are important but not urgent and others which are urgent and important.  Some of these tasks will lead you closer towards achieving your goal and it is only natural to want to do these ones first…

Organise your priorities in 5 simple steps:

1. Create 4 columns: Task, Important, Urgent and Score (Importance x Urgent)
2. List down all of the tasks on your to do list
3. Rate each one out of 5 for importance and urgency (5 being the most important and the most urgent)
4. Multiply the important by the urgent to generate the Score
5. The highest Score is your number 1 priority

Don’t forget the 80-20 rule, 80% of what we do only contributes to 20% of its value. If you concentrate on the most crucial 20% of activities and tasks, you will still be as productive as you would be trying to complete them all… in fact more so.

Plan and Review

Once the tasks have been designated, the next step is to plan in when when you’re going to do them… That’s it! Not do them, just plan in when you are going to do them, quite simple really.  This could be later in the day, later in the week, or even next week or next month depending on the designation (urgency and importance) of them.

Don’t lean on excuses

For me, I will organise my diary by typing when precisely I want to do these jobs knowing in the back of my mind that if something else came up, which was a higher priority, then I could move things around.

Organising may include doing some tasks every single day.  For me it’s setting up an accounts day at the end of every month to go through my finances.

How?

I always design my diary when I have a clear mindset… I view the default diary and see what is coming up over the next couple of days and get myself ready to complete them:

• If I plan to do my accounts the next day then I get my paperwork ready on the desk.  I simply pick it up and start the process.
• If I am planning to go for a run in the morning then the night before I get my running gear ready.  When I wake up I simply put the clothes on.
• If I’m planning a healthy meal I will check the day before that I have all the necessary ingredients.

It’s easy to lean on excuses if you haven’t got everything ready for yourself.

Do!

The next part is obvious, do the tasks as they appear in the default diary.

It’s very important to allow yourself to move things around in the diary or schedule so it’s not fixed.   I you have a goal that you are working towards, then you will naturally not want to adjust it… after all, you are the one who felt it was important enough to put it there in the first place.

For me, the designation of jobs and design of the diary is reviewed regularly and the process continues as I successfully complete my tasks and move closer towards my goal.

• Be satisfied with what you’ve achieved at the end of the end of a day / week / month
• Tick off those jobs and activities that you’ve been struggling to complete…

Design your default diary today